Tips on How to Start a Production Company

Do you know how to start a production company? Want to learn? It's not as hard as you think. Learn the steps that you need to take to start producing your own films.

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Running a Production Company

A production company is responsible for producing different types of art forms, including shows and movies for TV and the big screen. These companies are often also responsible for finding funding for different productions. Plenty of famous actors, directors and producers have all created their own production company. You too can learn how to start a production company if you have people to support and help you.

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Education and a Business Plan

Before you start making your production company, read as many books as possible so that you know what’s involved in running a production company. Take a course if you have to.

No one person can run a production company. But, if you have a group of dedicated friends, then you can assign people different tasks to do. You must, however, come up with a business plan on your ideas, how you are going to fund the operations and who is responsible for what.

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Brainstorm and Responsibilities

You won’t come up with business plan in one sitting. So, sit down with everyone and brainstorm every idea that you can think of. Let the creative juices flow, and come up with everything from film ideas, schedules for your films and even the name of the company. You should either write everything down on a piece of paper or a whiteboard. But, keep everything until you are really ready to eliminate an idea.

Once you have a business plan, you need to figure out who is responsible for what and then make everyone sign a contract. While you may trust these people, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Imagine this scenario. You come up with a wonderful idea and share it with the group. The next day one of your members takes it to another company and sells it. You’d be surprised how often this happens. Agree on contract terms, and make everyone sign it.

Assigning duties is very important. It means that only one person is in charge of contracts or clients or paperwork. This allows you to evenly divide responsibilities as opposed to having one person take care of everything. Next, create a list of goals and objectives, and try to stick to these as best you can.

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Material, Money and Talent

Now, you need to find material that you can use to make your movies. There’s no limit to ideas with the number of books, plays and scripts on the market. The hard part is getting the authors to agree to let you convert their works into movies or securing the rights from people that hold the copyrights.

Once you get your script, then you need to find people to act in your movies. If you don’t have a large budget, try to find new talent by going through agents or attending community theater productions or improvisational comedy clubs.

You must also work with investors or bankers, especially those that commonly work with independent filmmakers. This will ensure that you have money coming in despite all of your movie-making expenses.